Savoie ski resort: (73)
Stopover site: for the 5th time
Population: 3,800 (Plagnards et Plagnardes)
Specialities: diots (sausages), beaufort AOC, crozets, croziflette, tartiflette, farçon, matafan.
Personalities: Julien Lizeroux, Brice Roger, Maxence Muzaton, Danièle Debernard (alpine skiing), Kevin Rolland (half-pipe). Élodie Gossuin (former Miss France).
Sport: downhill skiing. Competitions: Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics and 2030 Winter Olympics (luge and bobsleigh). Bobsleigh and luge competitions since 1991. SuperSlalom. The 6000D.
Economy: Summer and winter tourism. Agriculture. Former mines.
Festivals: Born to be show (February), Odysséa (February), Subli'cimes (April). Festi Plagne (August).
Labels: Flocon Vert. Quality Tourism. Famille Plus.
Nickname: the resort with the red hat.
Websites and social networks: www.la-plagne.com
La Plagne and cycling
Returning to La Plagne for the first time in 23 years, the Tour de France peloton will inevitably be thinking of Laurent Fignon, who won the first two times the race stopped here, in 1984 and 1987. On the first occasion, the Parisian burst onto the scene on the final climb to drop Jean-Marie Grezet, who had broken away on his own, and deny the Swiss a stage win. That was the second time he had won the Tour de France. In 1987, the Frenchman, who had fallen behind in the overall standings, tried to go for the double by escaping in the company of Spaniard Anselmo Fuerte. He succeeded, but the battle for the Yellow Jersey was decided at the back, where Pedro Delgaldo, then in yellow, tried to unseat Stephen Roche for good. With a superhuman effort, the Irishman managed to hang on and finished just four seconds behind the Spaniard. He collapsed on the line and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalised. He recovered the next day and maintained a small enough gap in the Alps to dominate Delgado in a TT in Dijon and become the first Irishman to win the Tour. The race returned to La Plagne in 1995 for an Alex Zuelle victory and in 2002, when Michael Boogerd took his second and last stage win in the Tour. Since then, only the Criterium du Dauphiné has returned to the Savoie ski resort, where Ukrainian Mark Padun won the last two races of his career in 2021.
Sights
Ski area
The ski area of the various resorts that make up La Plagne is known as Grande Plagne. It stretches from an altitude of 1,200 metres at Montchavin to 3,050 metres at the Bellecôte glacier. Until 2023, it reached an altitude of 3,250 metres at the Chiaupe glacier before the ski lifts were taken down there due to the glacier's pronounced melting. Since 2003, La Plagne and neighbouring Les Arcs have formed the Paradiski area, thanks to the Vanoise Express. The area covers 1,000 hectares, from 1,250 m to 3,250 m, from the valley to the Bellecôte glacier, and includes four communes (Mâcot-la-Plagne, Aime, Bellentre and Champagny-en-Vanoise). Paradiski offers 425 km of marked runs, 225 of which are on the Plagne massif, as well as a huge unmarked area and famous off-piste itineraries such as the north face of the Bellecôte summit and the Friolin.
Bobsleigh and toboggan run
The resort boasts an 1,800 m bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track with 19 bends, built for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics. It is the only Olympic bobsleigh track in use in France. The track was installed in 1991 at La Roche, below the resort. The construction of the structure gave rise to much controversy, both in terms of the cost involved (233 million francs) and its environmental impact, despite a complete dossier that met the requirements of the time. But the events ran smoothly over the nine days, with more than 159 athletes from 25 countries competing in bobsleigh and 89 athletes representing 22 nations in luge. The German team won a total of seven Olympic medals in these two disciplines. Since 1992, the track has regularly hosted national and international events. For the 2030 Winter Olympics, when the resort will host the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events, it is committed to an environment-friendly organisation.
Heritage centre
Maison du Patrimoine, a 100 m² space in Plagne Centre dedicated to the history of the valley and the resort, was given a new scenography in 2020. Throughout the visit, visitors will be able to discover the mining activity that was the lynchpin of the local economy before 1961, and then the history of La Plagne resort right up to the tourist boom of today. The La Plagne mine was the largest in Savoie, producing 1/5 of France's silver lead.
Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Aime
Built: 11th century.
Style: Romanesque.
History: a first church seems to have been established between the 5th and 6th centuries. The current building seems to have been built during the first Romanesque period, known as Lombard Romanesque (11th century). The basilica is a priory church belonging to the abbey of Saint-Michel-de-la-Cluse, in the Val de Susa. It did not function as a parish church, since only a high mass was held there on Sundays and low masses on feast days. During the Middle Ages, the basilica served as the burial place of certain viscounts of Tarentaise, the Briançon family.
Characteristics: the current building has a large nave, combined with a sort of transept, the northern arm of which supports a square bell tower. The nave is six bays long. It never appears to have been vaulted. The chevet is made up of a main apse flanked on each side by a smaller apse. There were originally two bell towers, but they were destroyed in 1794 during the occupation of the Duchy of Savoy by French revolutionary troops. Only one of them was rebuilt. The choir and surrounding area are covered in frescoes dating from the late 12th and early 13th centuries.
Current use: no longer in use, it now houses a museum.
Listed as: historical monument in 1875.
Pierre Borrione Archaeological Museum
Located on the Saint Sigismond hill, this museum presents life in Aime-La Plagne from Neolithic times to the modern era: prehistoric tools, funerary furniture, Gallo-Roman architecture, jewellery, ceramics and coins bear witness to the first human settlements in the Tarentaise. These objects retrace the history of Aime, a city of the Gaulish Ceutron people and then, in 21 BC, the capital of the Roman province of the Graie Alps. The museum is named after the mayor of Aime who, in anticipation of the closure of the La Plagne mines, brought together other communes to found the resort of La Plagne. The museum is listed as a Musée de France.
Montmayeur Tower
Construction: 13th to 16th centuries.
Style: medieval.
History: the tower was part of a defensive complex designed to protect the town of Aime. It was linked to the Maney tower, a square tower on the other bank of the river, on the other side of the bridge over the Ormente, and the round tower of Poëncet, located behind the nuns' pavilion, under the road to Tessens, all under the protection of Château de Saint-Sigismond. It appears to have belonged to the de Villette family.
Characteristics: the keep is 19.30-m high and 9.55-m square. Its walls are 2.40-m thick. Machicolations adorn the top of the tower, some of which date back to the original construction to the south and west. It is also pierced by cross-headed cuckoo holes. Today, the hoardings, crenelations and steeply pitched roof have been restored.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1983.
To eat
Farçon
The recipe for this traditional dish varies from hamlet to hamlet. It is generally made with potatoes, milk, eggs, spices, dried fruit and sometimes bread or biscuits. This sweet and savoury dish was prepared on Sundays in a mould lined with bacon. The stuffing was cooked slowly, to be eaten after mass. In La Plagne, some establishments carry on the tradition by displaying it on their menus.
